HP Enhances HP SureStore E Disk Array XP256 for Windows NT With Focus on Storage Consolidation, Business - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Dec 20, 1999

Hewlett-Packard Company Tuesday announced a series of new enterprise storage products and capabilities, including new SAN management software and Microsoft certification for the HP SureStore E Disk Array XP256.

These new products and capabilities are integrated into a complete solution for consolidated high-availability, high-performance storage for companies that have trusted key business applications to hundreds of Windows NT platforms distributed throughout their buildings and campus locations. The new solutions address the inefficient use of storage resources that can affect the performance of IT services at organizations with distributed, server-dedicated storage architectures.

"Storage managers are struggling with inefficient storage-capacity utilization, backup and data-protection challenges, and escalating administrative costs for NT servers," said John McArthur, vice president of Storage Research at International Data Corporation. "HP's solution for consolidating NT storage offers a way to address these challenges as NT servers continue to multiply in the corporation."

XP256: Centerpiece of Consolidated Storage on Windows NT

The XP256 is an enterprise information hub that supports multiple operating systems and multivendor hardware platforms in the HP Equation storage area network (SAN). The disk array has now been approved for Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List, is fully compatible with Microsoft BackOffice applications and has completed rigorous Microsoft Cluster certification testing. The XP256 will be certified for Windows 2000, including the high-end Data Center version, upon its release.

HP also introduced the HP SureStore E 10/180 tape library, which is ideally suited to be the backup counterpart to the XP256 (see today's related announcement).

Introducing Enhanced SAN Manageability

HP also introduced HP SureStore E SAN Manager LUN Management (LM). SAN Manager LM creates a virtual storage subsystem that efficiently allocates storage resources in mixed hardware environments. With SAN Manager LM, IT managers have the ability to make dynamic storage and server node changes without network disruption or reboots, dramatically improving efficiency and reducing the overall cost of storage ownership. SAN Manager LM administers multi-terabyte Fibre Channel or SCSI SANs in heterogeneous environments and provides a hardware-independent, open-systems SAN for multiple servers and storage devices.

High Availability for Mission-critical Applications and Data The XP256 has also been enhanced with HP SureStore E Auto Path XP, a powerful business-continuity feature for Windows NT that improves performance via load balancing and enables the disk array to connect with host servers via redundant network connections that support automatic failover. The XP256 already offers no single point of failure within the system hardware. Today's news expands that capability to the SAN, meaning that a faulty network connection or host interface will not stop information from flowing to and from business-critical servers. HP's consolidation solution also delivers zero-downtime backup storage management with HP OpenView OmniBack II for Microsoft Exchange, Oracle and SAP databases.

HP's new services will provide end-to-end support for the XP256 and HP NetServer systems, as well as for NT servers from Compaq, Dell and IBM. HP will help customers design and implement consolidation infrastructure and maximize uptime with NT consulting services, such as HP SureStore E data migration. HP will provide customers with a single point of contact for their support needs, and HP's Microsoft-certified staff will offer services ranging from telephone support to 24x7 same-day, onsite service for mission-critical environments.

Pricing and Availability

The XP256 for Windows NT is currently available with an entry-level price of $240,000. Additional pricing is available from local HP sales representatives or channel partners.

Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services for business and home -- is focused on capitalizing on the opportunities of the Internet and the proliferation of electronic services.

HP plans to launch Agilent Technologies as an independent company by mid-calendar 2000. Agilent consists of HP's test and measurement, semiconductor products, chemical analysis and healthcare solutions businesses, and has leading positions in multiple market segments.

HP has 83,200 employees worldwide and had total revenue from continuing operations of $42.4 billion in its 1999 fiscal year. Information about HP, its products and the company's Year 2000 program can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.